Friday, April 30, 2010

Citrus!



















Top to bottom, left to right:
Tangelo (Minneoloa), Yuzu, Pummelo, Lemon (Eureka), Kumquat (Nagami), Yuzu

More than anything else, the citrus seem to be loving life right about now. These are all seed grown - I also have a seed-grown sudachi, and two larger grafted citrus (another yuzu, and a calamondin, which are both in the midst of a ferocious growth flush at the moment). The dry spring seems perfect for them all - lots of haze-free sunny skies, daytime temps between 75 and 90, with nights that have varied from the upper 30s to around 60. They have been growing very steadily.

The lemon - a year old now - has grown to about a foot tall.

The tangelo is also about a year old, and struggled mightily (many snail attacks) in its' early months. It has recovered considerably, is a bit shrubbier and currently stands about 8 inches tall.

The pummelo has been extremely vigorous, and is now sporting its' first spines. At barely 5 months of age, it's about 6 inches tall.

The kumquats likewise have been pretty vigorous, and likewise have a spine or two on them now; they are about 4 inches.

The seed-grown yuzus and the sudachi are both also about 4 inches. They are a bit more lush and less lanky in their appearance, with clusters of papeda-style leaves (the winged petiole characteristic of all papeda citrus) which has a vaguely spicy scent. Some, but not all, of the new shoots on the sudachi have been purple-tinged, like kaffir limes or ichang papedas.

Each of them are growing a new leaf or two a week at this point. The larger grafted trees are covered in more than a dozen new branches each, each with many clusters of small glossy leaves.

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